All in a Days Work: Blood is Thicker than Oil
by Tankfixxer
Summary: An AC mechanic must learn to leave the comfortable life he is used to and become part of something bigger than himself. After the intro the story takes of quick so hold on and enjoy the ride. Please leave comments so I know if I should continue the story
1. Introduction

It has been over five years since I wrote a story for Armored Core. Under the pen name RoadkillX I wrote my first story and it wasn't until recently that I returned to this site and read it. Although there were some small mistakes, spelling issues, and grammatical errors, I enjoyed the story and it was almost like I read it for the first time in my life. This interested me in the genre again and encouraged me to write another story. Although I have not played the AC games in a long time, I still remember how much I loved them and that is why I am choosing to set this story in the AC3/AC Silent Line time period. Although I wish I could continue my other story, I felt that I could write a better one now. I plan to use my real world experience as a tank mechanic and further developed writing skills to create a story that I hope, will pull the reader into the world of Armored Core. I only hope that you will engage yourself in this adventure the way I did when I returned to my old story Seduction of a Nation. This is the story of a Raven told mostly through his eyes. I hope to put a bit of myself in this story as well to make it feel real to the reader. So here it is. All in a Day's Work: Blood is thicker than Oil


	2. Chapter 1: Like Any Other Night

"Hey Monkey are you over there?" called a Raven from the distance. "Yeah just give me a minute and I'll help you out." I was in the middle of repairing some small damage to an AC during the preparation for an important operation. We were about to attack a base that had been known to deploy ACs and MTs in large scale terrorist attacks against small, peaceful corporations. With no other choice but to fight, Ravens were called in to stop the violence…if that makes sense. Politics meant little to me anyways. I was just an AC mechanic. I made enough money to live comfortably and aspired to be little more than a working man for the rest of my life. Sure I enjoyed watching AC battles and sometimes daydreamed about the glory of being a Raven. But it was not something I would have ever chosen to be. The funny thing about life is that things often happen regardless of what you ever imagined for yourself. And when times like these come, the best thing to do is to embrace them and drive on. Who would have thought that life would be like this? For the safety of me and anyone who reads these journals, I am calling myself Monkey (as in Grease Monkey or mechanic). All other names of ACs and descriptions of my daily life will not be censored. Welcome to my world.

"Wow that AC looks thrashed! I would rather you not take it out like that." Of course he will not listen to what I say, but at least I warned him ahead of time. "Come on buddy! You can get it fixed up in no time flat! I can always count on you Monkey." Although it was true that I would do anything for anyone, I had to sit down and discuss why his AC would not be fully mission capable for tonight's raid against the terrorist group known as The Iron Fist. He would be taking one of the spare ACs that we kept for emergencies. We had two or three Ravens that were staffed by our group and countless mercenaries that we contracted out when we needed help on a mission.

I told him to take the AC in spare hanger 3. The AC in hanger 1 was just a standard AC. It was lightweight and sported only a light missile launcher, radar, a standard blade, and a small rifle with low power. The AC in hanger 2 was a side project of mine built of rebuilt/battle damaged parts that no one else wanted. It had some old middleweight reverse joint legs and a frame to match. I managed to throw a few spare weapons we had around the base on it in case the shit ever hit the fan. Junker, as I affectionately called it, held a beat up MWG-MG/350 machine gun, a standard left arm blade, and a heavy GNL-15 grenade launcher for back weapon. I managed to recover this grenade launcher off of a destroyed enemy AC that attacked the base. The AC in hanger 3 was kept as a backup for situations like this. It was a quadruped with a CWG-BZ-50 Bazooka and napalm howitzer. It also had dual back ammo magazines so it could fire volleys of explosive shells at enemies for long periods of time. AC Barrage would be perfect for getting the entry team into the terrorist base.

A team of 2 normal ravens and a mercenary would be leaving soon to attempt our employer's daring attack. I wiped the sweat from my face, removed my coveralls, and sat in front of our large television screen that would broadcast the AC's views and aerial surveillance. I decided to grab some food and sit down to watch the mission. I anxiously waited as the Transport ship left the base and headed towards his mission. It was a cold, almost eerie night. Mission time 1145: It would be just like any other night…


	3. Chapter 2: Unexpected Guests

"Enemy MTs have been spotted in the area. And I wouldn't be surprised if the enemies had a powerful AC on their side. Once in the base, destroy everything in sight. If possible try to gather any Intel or prototype weapons, but this is not our major concern. Barrage, concentrate your fire on the main entrance. Trance, I want you to thin out these MTs before they become a problem. Be on your toes and keep your heads down. We all come home tonight! Keystone out!"

Keystone was what I considered the leader of our group. He took part in every mission, hired the consorts, and led from the front. If we could count on anyone it's him. That is why we named his AC Keystone. It was because of the way that he held the team together. He piloted a middleweight human type equipped with a powerful rifle, decent blade, missile launcher, and a chain gun. I knew that he would accomplish his mission no matter what the odds and no matter what it took.

Flames spread quickly and explosions were heard in a rapid manner. AC Barrage had started his breech of the building. When the smoke cleared it seemed that little damage had been dealt to the exterior. With enemy MTs rapidly growing in number, AC Keystone gave the order to shift fire to any enemies in the surrounding area. AC Barrage took this opportunity to unload a few bazooka rounds onto some MTs close by. They were fairly powerful, stood almost as tall as an AC, and held bazookas of their own. The first MT blocked a round with its large solid shield and continued its advance. The second round pierced the shield and tore off its left arm. Barrage lined up a final shot, but before he could fire one of his legs was damaged by a bazooka round that hit fairly close. He then noticed two more of the same MTs approaching to his left. He boosted towards them and fired a round from each of his weapons at the MTs. One MT was hit in the head by a napalm howitzer round and fell to its knees. Realizing that he was now too close, Barrage jumped over the MT and turned quickly. He managed to send two rounds into the MTs core from behind, causing it to explode violently. "Now where was I?" It was no longer before he spoke these words that bullets rained passed him from the sky. "They have a helicopter team. I count three. Trance, how about you earn your pay tonight?"

Helping Barrage was not an option. Trance was busy with his own battle. About 10 small, chicken like MTs had surrounded him and were relentlessly firing their small rifles at him from their cores. Using the speed of his lightweight hover design, Trance boosted towards the MTs and cut down two of them. He used this gap to escape the circle and boosted around them all and fired his two machine guns in unison. The MTs continued to fire and began to damage each other. When the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Trance was left unscathed and the MTs reduced to nothing but a pile of scrap. "So you still need that help four legs?"

Keystone had come to Barrage's aid and quickly took care of the helicopters with his missiles. "Trance, you better start proving yourself or I don't think I'll hire you in the near future." They exchanged brief laughter, but the mood quickly changed. They had grouped together too closely and a large missile exploded directly in the center of them. AC Barrage lost a leg in the massive explosion and AC Trance lost his life. "Where the hell did that come from? Be on the lookout for an enemy AC armed with a TITAN missile launcher. Come on Tripod it's now or never. You need to find us a way into that base.

"Tripod you say? You're always so damn funny! I'll knock the smile off your face right after a make a hole in this wall." AC Barrage, still with a decent amount of ammo in his reserves, continued on with his initial task of breaching the building. After 30 or so mixed rounds of bazooka and howitzer, the door began to crack and crumble away. "C'mon Keystone…this is it." As the wall began to crumble away, the rubble started to shake violently. A massive amount of small spider like robots climbed out from the debris and shot at both ACs with small laser cannons. AC Keystone knelt down and opened fire with his chain gun in support of his friend. No matter how many were destroyed they kept coming. It seemed like they would never stop. I gripped the seat tightly and bit down on my lip. Never before had I seen these two pilots struggle like this. I wished that there was something I could do to help them.

Another large missile slowly came towards the two ACs and Keystone was able to destroy it with his chain gun. The lasers worked their way through Barrage's armor and he was hit by some shrapnel in his lower rib. Low on ammo and bleeding severely, something had to be done soon or he would surely fall in battle. Keystone made the decision to send Barrage back to the base to save him. "Hell no man. I fight to the bitter end." But Keystone had his mind made up. After a quick exchange of words Barrage realized that he had no choice in the matter. He slowly and awkwardly limped his three legged AC backwards, expending what was left of his ammunition. When his weapons ran dry, he boarded the transport and headed back to the base.

"Hmm, now where is this enemy AC?" Keystone scanned the area, but saw nothing. A shot rang out from the distance and nearly struck him in the leg. He threw up his rifle and shot towards the flash that he saw from the enemy sniper rifle. An explosion was seen in the distance. This forced the enemy to move close enough to Keystone to engage in a one-on-one battle. He was fighting a similarly designed human type that wielded a sniper rifle, SOL wave blade, and a small rocket launcher. "Well I guess you had to come out of hiding now that I busted your TITAN missile launcher you coward." The AC pilot answered back in a quiet, emotionless voice. "You need to leave or I will kill you. I am not willing to negotiate." "Neither am I", yelled Keystone. From there the fight erupted with rifle fire and rockets. Keystone managed to dodge the fire well, but couldn't strike the opponent. Knowing well that he was running low on ammo, I feared that all hope was lost.

Just then I heard the transport and I rushed out to aid Barrage and get him to the medical wing. I told him not to speak as we loaded him on a stretcher and ran him towards the surgical team. "You need to…to help him", he said softly. I told him not to speak again and that he would be alright, but he remained stubborn. "You have to go. Launch an AC and get to that battle to help him!" I tried not to listen, but I thought it almost sounded like a good idea. "I can always count on you Monkey. Remember? I can always count on you." I told him that it was not an option and that my only concern was making sure he was all right. "Now is your chance!" called a voice from down the hall. It was our director. Did she really just say what I thought she did? "I don't even have an AC. I don't even have any training. I can barely pilot one of those things." She looked at me sternly and said "Now is your chance to be part of something bigger than yourself." I told her Junker was still hours away from being operational and we didn't have that kind of time. The only AC left is the standard one used to qualify new pilots to become Ravens. "Then tonight is the night you find your wings. I give you my permission to take it. Become a Raven. If this mission fails, we will no longer be able to operate from this base. It is your decision." That was it. I boarded the AC and prepared to launch my first sortie. I don't even know what I was thinking. I just forgot about all my plans for the future and my entire life for one moment and boarded that transport plane. This unexpected guest AC had really turned my life upside down…


	4. Chapter 3: A New Life

I felt so anxious while I waited for the transport to arrive at the battlefield. I sat and wondered if Keystone was doing alright. I kept telling myself just a few minutes longer and I'll be there. I can help him. We can win this fight. If only I could see what was going on right now.

*Back on the battlefield* Keystone slashed for the enemy AC, but the strike was dodged and countered with SOL wave blade to the right hand of Keystone. This left him only with a blade and what few missiles he had left. The two ACs boosted in a figure eight pattern, both waiting for the perfect time to strike. Keystone dodged left and then quickly right, narrowly avoiding several oncoming rockets. Knowing that he would soon be down to his blade, Keystone took a rise and over boosted straight at the enemy AC and sliced off his blade. As he turned around he suffered several rockets to the core and legs. Right as he felt hope was lost, he heard the sound of a transport approaching.

The transport ship landed and I rushed out of it quickly. I had never felt this way before in my entire life. I was full of fear and adrenaline. I took a few seconds to gain my composure, and then gained a missile lock on the enemy AC. It may have only been the factor of surprise that allowed it, but both small missiles connected with the enemy. I followed up my first strike with some rifle fire and ran gained his attention. As he started to boost towards me I panicked and boosted of to the side, randomly firing my rifle in an attempt to escape his rage. Keystone took this brief escape from the enemy to line up a shot and destroy the enemy AC. Although he was down to only a sniper rifle, my armor would not withstand more than 2 or 3 rounds and my weapons seemed to have little effect on him.

"Don't worry about me Monkey! I can handle this guy. Get inside and destroy the main terminal. This should take the pressure off of us for a little and slow down the terrorist attacks until we can regroup and strategize. Hurry!" I followed his order and over boosted to the base as quickly as possible. It didn't seem very large, but there were quite a few rooms. I entered the first one and was greeted by two small MTs with blade arms. I boosted to the back corner of the rooms, fire two missiles at the first one, and several rifle rounds at the second. I then heard many loud pings and watched my AP (armor points) plummet. I noticed the chain guns mounted in the corners of the room and took them out with my rifle. As I opened the next door I was greeted with yet another pair of chain guns. My AP was already low and I needed a better way out. These doors were not as powerful as the main one so I over boosted and fired my rifle. Each door just barely exploded right before I entered the next rooms and I found myself at the final room of the hallway. I saw only two things, a terminal and a handgun.

I picked up the handgun first. I would inspect it later, but acquiring new weapons never hurts. I turned to the terminal and saw that is was connected to a large mainframe. I quickly downloaded what data I could get from it and backed up to the other side of the room. After a few shots it caught fire and I found cover. The explosion went off and it was followed by several more large explosions. I saw hole in the wall and used it to escape the base. It seemed like a better idea to me then rushing past all those chain guns and again and all of the MTs that were most likely headed towards me. I boosted straight up and landed on the building. When I got towards the main entrance I found a good position and began to fire at the AC that was still fighting with Keystone. A communication link opened up from the director of our group. "New Intel has arrived. A large combined force of ACs, MTs, and jets will arrive in this area in no more than 5 minutes. Please leave the mission area at once." The transport was taking off with or without us. I made my way towards it, still taking potshots at this mystery AC. I told Keystone to do the same and that there was no way we could handle those kinds of odds. Keystone knelt down and fired the last 30-40 rounds of chain gun that he had left at the AC moving quickly towards him. A few rounds it the head and must have damaged some sensors because the enemy turned and ran away. We didn't want to leave him still alive, even though is AC would be in no condition to fight. But there really was no other choice this time. Keystone joined me on the transport and we sat silently for a few minutes. He was the first one to speak. "I don't know why you came out here. You really shouldn't have done such a stupid thing. But I'm glad that you did. If it was not for you, this mission would have been a failure. What I'm really trying to say is…I wouldn't really mind if you tagged along on some future missions with me and honed your skills. Think about it ok?" I had no answer for him. I just sat silently and pondered in my head what I was about to get myself into. Once you break your normal routine, it is hard to return. I would have to make a decision.

We dismounted our ACs and I stumbled over to the bottle of water I had left sitting out and chugged it like I had just been in the desert for days without a drop to drink. The director chuckled and offered me her final words for the night. "I think you did well tonight. Whether you like it or not you are now a registered Raven. I can only hope that you will join us on later sorties. We will hire more mechanics to pick up the slack. What do you say Monkey? We could use someone like you." I erased my mind of the thousands of thoughts spiraling through my head and managed to spit out only three words. "I'll do it!" I didn't know why they thought I did so well tonight. I fought recklessly and awkward. Maybe they saw some potential in me that I couldn't figure out. I walked to the latrine and looked in the mirror. My brown eyes were surrounded by large purple bags from the fatigue. My medium faded brown hard was pushed down flat from wearing my helmet and would not do anything I wanted it to do. I scratched my beard, said to hell with sleep, and started working on my AC Junker. It had been registered to me when I was put in the Global Cortex system. I wanted it up and running for any mission that was to pop up. After a few hours I finally hit exhaustion. I put the finishing touches on AC Junker, grabbed a nice hot shower, and passed out hard in my bed. Maybe this is the start of a new life…


	5. Chapter 4: A Dangerous Game

I opened the door to the office to see what was going on today. It had been almost a week since the raid of the Iron Fist base and all AC repairs were completed. I was eager to get another chance to pilot an AC in real combat. "After reviewing satellite images and Intel we may have found the location of another small base. The AC from one week ago has been spotted in several of these photos. This might be a great chance to kill two birds with one sto…oh hey Monkey!" I greeted the director and informed her that there was no reason to restart the briefing and that I had grasped the basic idea of the plan. I would be accompanying AC Keystone and a consort that was specifically selected for the mission. Basically our goal would be to destroy that mystery AC and search the base for Intel that could lead us to other zones of enemy operation and eventually their headquarters. The consort would be showing up shortly to explain to us his part in the mission.

"Hello everyone, you can call me AC Demon Seed." His AC consisted of the lightest weight parts available. It had a pair of skinny humanoid legs, a high heat output handgun, a left hand flamethrower, expensive radar, and a 20% ammo capacity magazine. "The target AC, who we will designate AC Concrete, was able to take a large amount of damage and still operate. My AC design relies less on piercing his armor and more on overheating his systems and destroying the enemy from the inside out. I will need your support to get in close enough to use this strategy. Only after that AC is knocked out will we be able to search the base efficiently. Any questions?"

We all stood silently for a minute, shook our heads, and started loading up the ACs. I looked up at my AC. Junker's old reverse joint legs were looking worn and his amour had many scars. I decided that after this mission or the next I would do what I needed to do so that I could build an AC more to my standards. But Junker would do for now. Keystone loaded up in the same transport as I did. Demon Seed would be dropping in from a smaller transport after the ground was secure or AC Concrete was spotted. I was skeptical of Demon Seed arriving in the middle of the mission, but the plan relied on him and his ammo was scarce. We had about 30 minutes to relax and think before the transport would open up and we would fall thousands of feet to the ground.

An announcement played over the intercom in the transport. "Several long range cannons and anti air defense guns have been spotted on the base. You will be dropped off at the edge of the combat operations area and move in from there. We don't want to risk this bird being shot out of the sky or your ACs getting blown up before you touch down. Take them out quickly so AC Demon Seed can be deployed. Good luck!" We hit the ground within visual sight of the guns. The second transport began to circle the area waiting for us to call upon our consort. Keystone set up a position and knelt down with his chain gun. I decided to do the same and knelt down with my grenade launcher. We counted four long range cannons but the AA guns where nowhere to be found. Keystone started the assault with a quick burst of chain gun and dispatched of the first gun. I launched a grenade round towards my target. It was slightly off, but the explosion of the round took out the gun. Keystone took out his second target, but my target had zoned in on my position and started throwing large rounds my way. "Monkey, get out of there now!" I took his advice and boosted forward towards the base. Without noticing it I found myself almost directly on top of the AA guns. I did a quick sweep and disposed of them with my machine gun. I was already down to about 200 rounds of machine gun and 14 grenades.

My next target was that long range cannon. "Keystone, I'll distract the gun. See if you can't gain some distance on it and lock on with your missile launcher." Without a word he took off to the left as I boosted straight towards the gun. It fired a round at me, but it overshot and exploded behind me. It rattled my AC and I heard small pieces of shrapnel and debris slamming into me. All systems were go and it seemed that no major damage had been done so I over boosted to the right and attempted to open up some more space for Keystone. "Hurry the hell up, I thought. If I get nailed by one of these rounds I'll be toast." Shortly after, a swarm of missiles shot toward that gun like a nest of angry wasp. "AC Junker to transport plane, the area is clear. Please deliver the package." Then Keystone replied with his usual sarcasm, "I'm not signing for that crap. Please return to sender."

AC Demon Seed dropped directly in front of the base. We all rendezvoused and met him at the entrance. All though this base was slightly smaller than the previous one, the doors seemed to be significantly thicker. I suggested blowing the thing down. I fired off about 50 rounds of machine gun, but it was ineffective. I attempted to use my laser blade, but there was some sort of shield providing defense against energy based weaponry. I told the others to back up and proceeded to launch about four grenades into the door. They seemed to be getting somewhere, but it wasn't good enough. I decided to make a call to base. "Director, this is AC Junker requesting your immediate assistance. The big bad wolf huffed and puffed, but this door isn't going down. Grenades had little effect on the target. Is it possible to get AC Barrage down here and see if we can't blow this thing into pieces?" After some static she responded. "Team, this is your director. I have no Ravens able to pilot AC Barrage at this time. Not until the pilot recovers from last week. I will be airdropping a weapon down that should do the trick." I hoped that she was right. I didn't like the feeling of three ACs bunched up in front of some enemy base out in the middle of nowhere. After what seemed like forever a high flying plane dropped a large crate that parachuted to the ground.

I approached the crate and removed the weapon from inside it. It was a right arm blade. This particular model was good for only 4 uses, but it was the most powerful one on the market. I'm not sure why the director had been storing a right arm blade as they are often seen as useless, but I wasn't about to complain. We decided that I would be the one to carry this weapon so I jettisoned my machine gun and equipped the blade. "Alright, I hope you guys are ready for whatever is inside this door because I'm about to breech." As I triggered the blade some sort of piston pulled back the arm of my AC. After a slight delay the arm released with a tremendous amount of force. A large opening was left where the door used to be. We entered a large open bay with some maintenance equipment, a small terminal, and a single armored core. "That's our target! AC Concrete. I'd recognize him anywhere, let's take him out!" I remembered the AC I first battled one week ago and Keystone was correct. That was him for sure. But before any of us could fire a shot off the power went out suddenly. A surge of energy could be seen flowing through some large power cables hooked into the AC. Sparks flew in every direction and finally the emergency power kicked in. AC Concrete opened up communications with us. "You won't be so lucky this time. My AC and skills are on a whole different level from last our previous meeting. It's your last chance to get out of here with your lives."

That was enough talking for me. I had to attack him. But I had no openings. My swords were only good for close combat. And Kneeling down with a grenade launcher would leave me wide open for attack. So I decided to move to the other end of the bay to find a position. AC Keystone opened up with his rifle, but he was not able to connect any shots. He locked on with his missile launcher and fired, but AC Concrete dodged them effortlessly. AC Concrete was moving around impossibly fast for his weight and it seemed like he had an infinite supply of energy. The hardest thing to believe was his reflexes. He continued to dodge every rifle round fired by Keystone. I fired a grenade as soon as the enemy hit the ground, hoping to nail him while he was immobile from the shock of landing. But he moved as soon as I fired and the grenade exploded far away from him. AC Demon Seed tried stun him with his handgun, but he only grazed his target a few times. When Demon Seed got in close enough to use his flamethrower he was greeted with an energy wave from Concrete's SOL blade. He attempted this maneuver several times but even the speed of his light weight design could not close the gap between the two ACs and his handgun ammo was getting low. If we didn't think of a plan soon we would be out of ammo without the enemy expending a single round.

"I got an idea guys. Demon Seed, I need you to keep trying to get in close with your flame thrower. Keystone, when AC Concrete is turned around I need you to open up with your chain gun. If this manages to distract him I'll get in close and take him out. Let's do this!" Demon Seed continued his assault, but this time he moved in closer. Although he was now barely dodging Concrete's energy blade waves, he managed to heat him up a little with his flame thrower. Keystone knelt down and fired an endless stream of chain gun. Several rounds found their way into Concrete's amour and it seemed that we had a sliver of hope. When I felt that our target was distracted enough, I went in for the kill. I hit my over boost and took off like a rocket towards Concrete. Before I was in front of him I pulled back my right arm blade. This strike would take perfect timing or a good amount of dumb luck. Right before our AC's collided my right arm blade released and found a nice home inside of the lower section of the enemy's core. As it fell to the ground it fired off several rockets in quick succession. It seemed as though there was still some fight left in him. A hit from that blade would destroy or severely cripple an average AC. But somehow this one was still fighting. I backed up and instructed Demon Seed to get up here fast and burn Concrete into the ground. He unloaded every last drop of his flamethrower and we watched the AC smolder in front of us. Surely there would be nothing left inside that AC.

Keystone was the first to speak. "Alright guys…we got the job done. I just hope that the missions don't continue to end up like the last two or we might be in trouble. That was some quick thinking Monkey…but it might be time you trade AC Junker in for something that can handle missions like this. It's probably only going to get harder as we go on and improvising can't completely replace a solid AC design. Well let's search this base and get out of here. I'm just about ready to head home." I took a look at the maintenance equipment in the bay. It wasn't enough to maintain an AC. I guess it was being used to repair the generator that supercharged our target AC. Keystone downloaded the data from the terminals and called in our transports.

As we boarded the planes AC Demon Seed informed us that he would be spending a few days at the base while he waited for the arena challenge. It would be a small tournament that offered free repairs and a nice chunk of prize money that went up with each win. The winner would become a normal raven that would stay at the base, and any other entrants could still be looked at for consorts if they impressed the director. Of course these battles were all being broadcasted and a large sum of money was to be earned by our director for further operations. He told me that I could enter against a few of our regularly hired consorts in side battles (since I obviously already had a spot as a normal raven on the base) and make a little bit of money and have some fun. I could only laugh at what he said next though. He told me to "Be careful in the tournament" and that it was "a dangerous game". I wondered if he realized what we had just been through on the last mission. Oh well. Some people just lack in common sense I suppose. A dangerous game…


	6. Chapter 5: Die Trying

The tournament was off to an incredible start with blades slashing and guns blazing. There wasn't a dull moment in the competition or an empty seat in the crowd. This was turning into quite a spectacle and I was hoping that I wasn't about to embarrass myself in front of everyone. Many fierce competitors had shown up. Some of them were fearless mercenaries. Others had been stars of arenas far and wide. A few more were mysterious ravens with shady pasts and unknown motives. To say the least everyone who showed up today was in for something big. My AC preparations were complete and I decided to relax and calm my nerves by watching a few battles before it was my turn to fight.

The first match featured a former champion from a big city arena. His name was AC Quick Draw. He piloted a lightweight quadruped type with left and right arm hand guns and a dual chain gun unit on his back. He was known for his excellent accuracy and quick aim. Nobody told him that the wild west died a long time ago, but he didn't seem to notice and I wasn't about to be the man who attempted to inform him. It was said that he probably fought more outside of his AC than in it and he possessed many qualities that made him a great choice to hire on the battlefield. His opponent was a newer raven that hadn't really proved himself on the battlefield yet. He had not taken part in any missions that were considered tough and participated only in a few low ranking arena events. The design of his AC, Mutilate, was an odd one. The legs were lightweight reverse joints, but the core and head were designed for heavyweight AC types. It featured dual four barrel bazooka arm types (stacked vertically) that could fire in either four or eight shot volleys, an expensive and powerful radar, and an orbit cannon. He could clearly dish out some damage, but had to be careful with his low ammo reserves. The strategy behind the setup was the ability to move fast, do damage, and be able to take a hit at the same time. We would all see how this worked out for him shortly.

The announcer soon cut in over the deafening speaker system. "Ladies and gentlemen, if you so wish to call yourselves as so, the next battle taking place will be between AC Quick Draw, he paused as the crowd let out there cheers, and AC Mutilate. I have a feeling that this one could be over quickly so stay seated and try not to blink. Ready………..FIGHT!"

AC Quick Draw started off the fight with a pair of well aimed handgun rounds that struck AC Mutilate in the chest. The next two rounds missed which surprised me as well as the rest of the crowd. At first I thought it was a fluke but the next several shots missed too. Mutilate was using the speed of his lightweight legs to evade everything fired at him, or maybe he was just getting lucky. Mutilate deployed an orbit cannon close to Quick Draw. Although it was scoring some hits it did very little to discourage Quick Draw from changing his strategy. Mutilate fired an eight round wall of bazooka rounds on the run and managed to connect only one to the leg of his opponent. He then fired another volley in this fashion and this time managed to score more hits to the arm, core, and same leg of his opponent. It didn't seem like He caused much damage, but I assumed that the structure of the leg couldn't be holding up to well. I was familiar with the bazooka arm type and knew that he could only fire about seven more volleys in that fashion until he would be relying solely on his orbit cannon. Quick Draw changed the pace of the fight by switching to his dual mounted chain guns. He let loose in quick streams of rounds and boosted around to lessen the frequency of being hit by the orbit cannons now filling the sky. Mutilate was not quite able to adjust to this change and missed his next three bursts of bazooka rounds. In a lucky pot shot, Mutilate scored eight direct hits with his bazooka arms. These rounds connected with Quick draws front two legs and his AC hit the ground hard and skidded almost 50 feet. Just as it seemed he was out of luck he released his remaining chain gun ammunition. The trail of deadly bullets started at the two tops of Mutilates Arms and walked themselves down perfectly to the bottoms. An explosion briefly covered AC Mutilate and when the smoke cleared it seemed that his arms had been all but destroyed. All that remained was the top portion of two bazookas. I doubted that they would even fire, but it may have been worth a shot. For a second both ACs paused and just faced each other. The crowd watched with confusion as neither AC had been announced no longer able to fight and it was clear that neither one was completely out of commission. Finally both ACs fired at the same time. When the dust settled Quick Draw was left standing and Mutilate was all but mutilated. A replay was brought up on the screen quickly and we could see that the bazooka rounds had skimmed both sides of AC Quick Draws head and that both handgun rounds connected directly to the front of AC Mutilates head. The announcer came back on. "Wow folks, what an amazing match! It seems that AC Quick Draw is victorious and will be moving up to the next battle later today. Please watch that replay again…man that fight was awesome!" The crowd let out another roar. We found out in an interview after the match that both pilots found themselves with only two rounds and had both made the decision to take steady aim for the head. A true Wild West shootout I guess. No wonder Quick Draw emerged victorious. I couldn't wait to see how the next battle would turn out.

I hardly had enough time to relieve myself and grab something to eat before the next match was on its way. With all the battles taking place today they would have to clean up from one fight and begin the next one at a rapid pace. I took a quick glance at both ACs and quickly realized who they were. Both were mercenaries that we had hired out for consorts on a few missions. They had both shown themselves in battle and although I had never worked with them directly, I would not want to be on the receiving end of either of their weapons. AC Rocket Man piloted a medium weight hover type that was loaded to the teeth with manually aimed death. He sported a single tube heavy right hand rocket launcher that held about 10 rounds, about triple the amount it would take to put an average AC out of the fight. In his left arm was a small three barrel rocket launcher designed for quick firing capability of one round at a time. On his shoulders he mounted a small triple shot small rocket launcher for a nice spread while moving quickly. To top it all off his right should carried another large HECTO rocket launcher that held 18 powerful rounds. He was an infantryman and heavy weapons specialist before becoming a pilot and he liked to rely on his own steady aim rather than a computer system to assist him in combat. His opponent would be AC Lock-on. I classified his type as a missile boat. He had a similar medium weight hover type to AC Rocket Man. He had powerful dual missile type arms that could fire two or four missiles on a single lock. Although gaining the lock would take time and the weapon arms had a terrible firing rate and only held eight missiles, just one or two of these deadly payloads were more than enough to send the best AC to the scrap yard. His back held increased capacity dual missile launchers to make up for the lack of ammo. The pilot preferred to concentrate mainly on maneuvering while letting his missiles lock on and do the damage without worrying about taking aim. Although the AC designs were so similar, their weapons systems and strategies made them complete opposites. It would be very interesting to see how this fight would end. No more than five seconds after I had inspected the ACs the announcer started the match.

AC Rocket Man started off by firing a rocket from both hands. AC Lock-on evaded the larger of the two but was glanced by the other. It was a close call this early in the match. Lock-on boosted quickly and tried to evade the rocket attacks long enough to gain a steady lock. Rocket man boosted in the same pattern and started firing his triple rockets in a rapid manner hoping to get a lucky hit. Most of the rockets missed or skimmed along the sides of Lock-on's armor and it wasn't until Lock-on stopped momentarily to gain some energy for his generator that the three rounds hit him square in the core. It was a good hit against a lightweight opponent, but the small rockets weren't enough to cripple Lock-on's performance. Due to the similarities between the two designs Rocket Man was also forced to stop to regain energy. Lock-on used this time to fire a quick spread of missiles from his back's dual missile launchers. Rocket Man was not able to dodge them all and took a two or three missiles to the core. It seemed like both ACs were still pretty even and it was too early in the fight to choose a victor just yet. The two ACs continued to battle it out in the same manner, rockets and missiles flying in every which direction, but few hitting their designated targets. Realizing that nothing was working and that his ammo reserves were depleting, Lock-on switched to his weapon arms and let loose four incredibly large missiles in an attempt to end the match in one shot. Rocket Man took this chance to switch to his Large HECTO rocket launcher. The first shot hit Lock-on dead on in the core. Rocket Man hoped this would be enough to end the match, but the missiles were still coming and his enemy started slowly boosting, almost limping, away from him. Rocket Man decided to let it all go to chance and hit is over booster, he fired both his left and right arm rockets and destroyed two of the incoming missiles. The other two scraped against his side and exploded extremely close just behind him. Considerable damage was done to the back of his core and legs, but the force of the explosion pushed him forward. He took aim once more and fired two more rockets that hit their target so hard that AC Lock-on slammed against the other side of the arena. Rocket Man had won the match and a medical team rushed in aid Lock-on. Before they made it, Lock-on emerged from his AC and it seemed that his injuries very minor. He had gotten very lucky. I now started to see why AC Demon Seed had warned me of the perils of the arena.

I waited outside of my AC for the call to suit up and go fight. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a figure approaching me. It was a bombshell. It wasn't the kind that I had been witnessing being thrown around without mercy in the arena all day though. It was actually a very attractive woman to be more precise. She had dyed her hair green to match her eyes. Her tie-dye jumpsuit made her look like some kind of Hippie from days long ago, but she had somewhat of a more serious look about her. She was a little shorter than me and had some wonderful curves to compliment her small frame. It really wasn't the type of women that I expected to be hanging around such a sport full of blood and raging testosterone. But I welcomed it nonetheless. The first thing she said to me could not have shocked me more. "That AC looks like a piece of crap." Wow, no greetings or introductions from this woman. Just an insult at my AC…even if she was not too far from the truth. "So what did you do? Just throw together a few pieces you could afford, strap a grenade launcher on it and call it a day?" I informed her that I was, until recently, just a mechanic and that it was a side project of mine that I had been using since I became a Raven a few weeks ago. "She told me that I should build something else once I get the money." I told her that I had been thinking over designs in my head and that although it would be expensive, I had almost enough money saved up to do the trick. I didn't tell her that it was hard for me to throw all the money I had made working long hours as a mechanic into a brand new AC and I was hoping to hold on to this Junker for a while until I had no other choice but to build a new one from ground up. She said I should "part it out and build the AC of my dreams if I could afford it. All the money I've saved up and don't want to spend won't do me a whole lot of good when I'm dead in the dirt of some unknown battlefield. "Well, I said, if you would excuse me miss, I actually have to take this piece of crap to the next arena battle. Maybe we can see each other again soon?" She hit me with the shock factor one final time before walking off. "Sooner than you think, she said with a smile, I'll be your next opponent. Good luck. You'll need a lot of it!" I quickly checked the roster to try to catch her bluff. But it was no lie. She was the only women Raven competing today. It seemed that she fought with a type that featured only energy weapons. She was all about the environment and donated the majority of her winnings and time to charity work. She held a decent record in the arena, but had only been part of two or three AC missions that were little more than MTs disrupting the peace or assaulting small terrorist groups that would be lucky to have an AC half as good as mine. But still, her confidence worried me. Although the missions that I took part in were incredibly difficult, I really had just started my career could have been surviving on luck alone until now. Would this battle really end up in my favor?

As we entered the arena I finally got a good look at her AC. She called it AC Saw Grass. It was a lightweight quad AC painted leaf green with dual blade arms and a quad back laser cannon that could fire in pairs of two or four. To help with her energy consumption she equipped an extension that would quickly charge her energy supply. She definitely had the capability to do some heavy damage quickly. This would be one heck of a fight. Or so I thought. The announcer said fight and AC Saw Grass charged at me right away. I realized that she planned on using her blade arms and I knew that my AC would not win a blade war against hers. She was quicker and had a stronger blade, two to be exact. I would be cut to pieces so I boosted away from her. I didn't want to use my grenade launcher because that meant that I would have to kneel and would be an easy target. It was a good thing that I had equipped my machine gun for this battle because it gave me some sort of offense, even if it was weak and had little ammo. I sprayed a few quick bursts of machine gun at her and managed to put a few small dents in her armor, but to little effect. I continued spraying as I boosted away from her in a cat and mouse game that would surely end when I ran out of energy. She started firing two lasers at a time which I managed to dodge with some effort by zigzagging left and right quickly. It was working pretty well and I hadn't taken any direct hits, but she was gaining ground on me quickly. I noticed that she used her extension, but running her out of energy wasn't going to happen before my AP depleted to zero. She finally reached me and swung both of her arms at me quickly. I side stepped quickly with the blade just grazing my side and countered with a quick burst of about 15 machine gun rounds. I further damaged some of her ammo, but didn't destroy anything vital. I retreated while she turned around. I knelt down with my grenade launcher and fired my first round. It hit close and the shrapnel stuck in the core of AC Saw Grass. I lined up another shot as she charged me and realized that she was going to cut me in two pieces, or more, before I hit her with it. Right before I fired my grenade she halted and I got a message saying that I had won the battle. She immediately left the arena and I followed her out. Although I had technically won the right the crowd didn't look quite pleased and I wasn't sure why she would forfeit the battle with over half of her AP left, a decent amount of ammo, and no obvious signs of major damage. I opened up a communication link. "Hey, why are you forfeiting the battle? What the hell is going on?" After a few seconds of silence she answered me. "One of the projects that I was helping out was just attacked by a bunch of construction MTs. I figured that it would be best to go stop them while I still had some fight left in my AC. Sorry to have ended the fight so suddenly, but I have to go. There might be an AC there that wasn't spotted yet and since I'm not at 100% how about going along with me as a Consort just in case. I'll pay you 10,000 credits plus repair and ammunition" This sounded all right to me. It was the only match I had scheduled for the day anyway. I needed some more mission experience so I decided I would assist her. "I'll do it for a Kiss and 5,000 credits" I told her. She came back with "How about a smile and 9,000 credits." I laughed and said "No thanks 10,000 credits will do and we'll figure the rest out over lunch or coffee sometime. No time to argue with me either, we need to go stop those MTs." The mission area was close so we were just going to travel by AC and figure out what was going on.

We arrived on the scene shortly and found the whole place in chaos. I tried to talk to some of the MTs but they just continued to destroy everything. The majority of them had small solid blade arms to punch through material and the rest were little more than a Tracked crane with a small laser. There were about 10 of them all together. We decided to just take them out and investigate later. I boosted towards them and destroyed the first two with my machine gun. They weren't meant for combat and didn't take many rounds to knock out. I slashed through a third target with my blade and watched it crumble to the ground. AC Saw Grass had made quick work of half of them by firing her back mounted laser cannons in rapid succession. Two stood in front of us and we boosted towards them. At the same time I ripped through one with my blade and she cut one in about four nice pieces by slashing in a quick X pattern. It was all over in less than a minute and we looked around at the destruction. It would take some time and money to rebuild this place. But why would they attack a park? A strange frequency requested to speak to us and we both accepted it. "The Iron Fist will have its way. We will take control. This was just a test of our new equipment. When installed in MTs and ACs it controls the user to our bidding. Some sort of…mind control you could say. We can pilot any mech from anywhere and our little gift is untraceable. We can trigger it at the moment it best suits us. You cannot stop us. Good Bye." We boosted towards the mystery AC, but a large explosion went off in front of us. The place was rigged before we even got there. We managed to sustain little damage from the blast. This was too much. Was he serious? We didn't talk on the way back, but I know that our minds were racing. I made the decision then. I was going back to the base, building the all powerful AC of my dreams, and stopping this lousy terrorist group one way or another. Even if I had to die trying…


End file.
